I don't think "personal" is the word I'd use. Hockey refs are known for being the least consistent, axe to grind, subjective officials in sports. They call it "controlling the game" or "leveling the ice." They think it's their duty to "improve" the game by selective calls and non-calls. I've seen a lot of it over the years and that's what I think I may be seeing this season. "Let's not call holding because the defense got a sack" becomes "let's not call holding because this defense is doing just fine." Not to mention, based on the recent "poor grading" drama involving another team, we KNOW the refs get together and discuss teams.

My theory: Just about every team commits 5 legit holds during a game and gets called for 2. We commit 5 and get called for 5.

Question for Michael:

When you explain to your o-linemen that their job is to be on their man when the whistle blows, do you see an increase in holding/block in the back penalties?

When you explain to your o-linemen that their job is to be on their man when the whistle blows, do you see an increase in holding/block in the back penalties?

I've never taught anything else, so I just know how many we get, and not how it compares.

1) When we call holding in every drill, and in team, and provide individual penalties, we'll have maybe two calls a year. When we let things go, and don't provide individual penalties, we'll have two or three a game.

2) As far as blocks in the back goes, our rule is that if you lose your guy, you race him to the ball. No more blocking. Just get to the ball before he does. I haven't had a block in the back in years. Maybe my first year, coaching little guys, on a long run. I can still remember the other coach screaming. The penalty got called, and I told the other coach maybe he should team his team to allow fewer long runs.

Blocks in back/holding on KR, PR and INT return:They are defensive players and are extremely aggressive. That's almost to be expected. We could have mitigated that by getting more rapid-fire PR reps and having our gaggle-f*ck of coaches pick a player or two and watch for holding instead of jaw jacking in the end zone.

Late hits/unnecessary roughness:Give me a freaking break. We are NOT dirty. Look at Moll's hit that was flagged last night. RB was damn near parallel to the ground, leading with his helmet and the back judge wants to tell us it's a safety issue? We hit hard. Maybe the game is changing and this is the shape of things to come.

False starts/snap violations:When has this EVER been a problem? Only when the defense decides to shout "SHIFT". These are HS refs and they know when they are being gamed. It's a subjective call, but when the offense is going on "HIT" and the defense is yelling "SHIFT", I call BS. We adjusted and moved on. I went back and watched the scout film from a few weeks ago with the volume way up. They weren't doing that crap back then. We got gamed.

I can't recall us being called for a facemask this season, but we seem to draw 1 or 2 every game.

What else was there?

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Mission Statement: To create a Football Family that our players and parents can't imagine not being a part of.

1) When we call holding in every drill, and in team, and provide individual penalties, we'll have maybe two calls a year. When we let things go, and don't provide individual penalties, we'll have two or three a game.

Lesson learned, right there.

Quote

2) As far as blocks in the back goes, our rule is that if you lose your guy, you race him to the ball. No more blocking. Just get to the ball before he does. I haven't had a block in the back in years. Maybe my first year, coaching little guys, on a long run. I can still remember the other coach screaming. The penalty got called, and I told the other coach maybe he should team his team to allow fewer long runs.

Our blocks in the back tend to be a guy turning his back to us and our guy not letting up. Yes. This is a real thing now. Kids are being taught to turn their backs on blockers. Typical example. G climbs to a LB and engages. Ball goes offensive right. LB spins offensive right to get off the block. G keeps running him while LB has is arms back like he's giving the G a reverse hug.

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Mission Statement: To create a Football Family that our players and parents can't imagine not being a part of.

Our blocks in the back tend to be a guy turning his back to us and our guy not letting up. Yes. This is a real thing now. Kids are being taught to turn their backs on blockers..

Good luck turning with us grabbing you and staying into you.

But you can just call that in drills if it happens. You might end up with a bunch of defenders who spin like crazy to draw calls, but the defensive coaches are getting paid, too. So let them deal with it.

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“If you can't explain it to a six-year-old, you don't understand it yourself.” ― Albert Einstein

Well its official....we made it too the Championship Bowl Game this Wednesday Night.

Playing our biggest rival. These two teams have played in 3 of the last 4 Championships but I think this is what the League wanted more so on what was earned.

For some odd reason us and one other team played an extra game. So we got in as the #2 seed by Winning Percentage. The only team to beat us was also a 1 loss team but played one less game. So we finished at .875 and they finished at .857. IMHO....they got hosed....although one could argue we had to play an extra game.

Oh well....like our DC said....they made the schedule and we played it so movin' on.

Every time these two teams play its an epic game. Should be a fun way to go out.

Oddly....the #2 and #3 seeds finished the season with 44 points against. Had their been one more 1 loss team in the mix like we thought would happen...had they given up more than 44 points the tiebreaker would have come down to a simple coin flip. These Youth Leagues need to drop the Points Against as a tiebreaker when Head to Head does not apply or if there is a 3 way tie. Our Fall League does the same thing.

We scored an unbelievable 323 points in 8 games and somehow I feel a bit dirty over that accomplishment. Half the games we played was played to crush the opponent into Mercy Rule asap and then keep the foot firmly on the throat due to a tie-breaking system....which is exactly what we did.

And somehow it does not sit well with me. Some of you insisted we play our game. Others insisted we play our game but the right way. Now that its over and done with we didn't play our game the right way. To the average fan...the opposing player....their coaches...the Officials.... it looked as if all we wanted to do was embarrass them on a scoreboard....which is exactly what we did.

That isnt how youth sports should ever be perceived as...an embarrassment. Lots of bad Karma is now built up and yes I do believe what goes around will eventually...come right back at you. Bad JuJu.

That said....I am very happy the players have the opportunity to go out on top. Me? Im looking forward to next Fall so I can cleanse my pallet....as Lar likes to say.

I have found in coaching when you know you know you can't lose or you know you can't win, it is a pretty miserable experience. Always winning easily gets really boring and knowing you can't win can be soul crushing.

You know...the better the team, the higher the level of expectations, and the less fun it is.

Cisar has said his year coaching a select team was miserable.

You guys with this group - you talked about it almost being a select team in the way it came together, and you're miserable.

Prodigy had an amazing group that pretty much just destroyed everyone this year...and was miserable.

I had the most talented group this past year I've ever coached, and we sucked and I was miserable.

Starting to see a pattern.

I have coached one other Super Team before.

After their 30 something-ish win and 3rd Championship in 3 years....I told the parents...no Banquet and you all can pick up your Championship Trophies. They will be on my porch so dont bother knocking cuz Im out of town.

When I got home there were 2 or 3 trophies on my porch. I promptly threw them away and never looked back.

Currently I am no where near that kind of mindset....but if I were in year 3 with this Super Team....who knows. The only thing saving me right now is there are 3 other Super Teams in our Division. The only way I could ever do this again is to play in a full on Super Team Division.

We had a kid quit the team last week. Odd deal but that is another story.

He would easily become anyone's #1 Tail Back on a normal team. But on this team....not even close and probably why he walked.

You know...the better the team, the higher the level of expectations, and the less fun it is.

Cisar has said his year coaching a select team was miserable.

You guys with this group - you talked about it almost being a select team in the way it came together, and you're miserable.

Prodigy had an amazing group that pretty much just destroyed everyone this year...and was miserable.

I had the most talented group this past year I've ever coached, and we sucked and I was miserable.

Starting to see a pattern.

I understand this to a certain extent. This past season I coached my daughter's team at her school in 8th grade. I had coached them since they were in 4th grade. The past two seasons in junior high they just destroyed teams. That stuff got boring. What never got boring was helping those girls grow as players and people. We tried to introduce new concepts weekly, a new move, something they hadn't learned yet and could still work on in a game even when they were up by 40. We played competitive games and not-so competitive games in practice and always kept it fresh. Were the actual games lackluster? Overall, yes. But when you dug down into the details of each win, we found something to be proud of and be excited about. Maybe a girl made her first three pointer or did a certain move for the first time or finally took a charge or dove on the floor for a loose ball.

I also coached a younger travel team this past season and we went 2-24. They had never played at that competitive level before. That too was challenging for different reasons but we still found ways to be excited about our progress and struggles throughout the year even when I knew deep down that most games were never going to be close. I've been on both sides of the coin recently and I always felt like it was my job as the coach to steer things in the right direction, regardless of wins and losses. The players will follow our lead, good or bad.

You guys with this group - you talked about it almost being a select team in the way it came together, and you're miserable.

No, I'm far from miserable. The things that aren't sitting right with me have NOTHING to do with the kids. They are awesome and one of the best groups I've been around. Again, I'll elaborate tomorrow night or Thursday morning. Not appropriate with a game still to play.

Update: The team who beat us and was robbed of being in the top bowl game has told the league to shove the #3 vs #4 game up their a$$es and will not play tomorrow night. As Mahonz pointed out, the league:

1) Announced a "top 4" playoff for a "true champion" in the preseason, then flopped without so much as a word.

2) Told us that due to our extra game, a fraction of our points against will be taken away, but our record will be treated as if we played 7 games like every other team in the division. This is what put us in "zero points against" mode. Then they flopped on that one and told every other team in the league but us that our 7-1 is better than the other team's 6-1, so their beating us head to head means nothing.

3) Decided to ignore a referee vote to disqualify the #1 seed for repeated and sustained abhorrent behavior at games. This is despite a written rule that a "C" or better grade for sportsmanship is required to be eligible for a bowl game. Teams are graded after each game by the officiating crew, who are experienced and certified HS officials.

So now, the #3 vs #4 game, instead of being either a game vs two VERY good teams meeting for the first time (had they stuck to their initial ruling) OR a rematch between two teams who played to a 9-8 score (had the team who beat us not quit in disgust), the league will be treated to a rematch of a 41-6 drubbing.

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Mission Statement: To create a Football Family that our players and parents can't imagine not being a part of.

To be blunt, I'd think long and hard about doing what the 6-1 team did and telling the league to go f*ck themselves.

I'd send an email to everyone that is even remotely involved, and include everything you just outlined, and tell them you simply cannot condone their unethical and inappropriate actions by participating in their sham of a bowl game.

Then again, I'm a little chippy these days, so I may not be the best advice-giver about this stuff right now.

And Lar, I wasn't saying the team was making you miserable. I was just saying the situation you find yourself in, because you're that good, is making things difficult. If your talent was such that 5-3 would be a good record, and you ended up 6-2, I don't think you'd be venting as much...